Birmingham Commissioners Give Dispatch-Sharing Proposal Nod of Approval

Birmingham City Commissioners were on board Monday night with a .

"I think it's an obvious benefit for both communities," Commissioner Gordon Rinschler said of the plan that would consolidate police and emergency dispatch services in both communities in an attempt to save money.

Both communities are due to replace their aging dispatch equipment at a cost of $100,000 to both cities. If consolidated, however, Beverly Hills could avoid this cost while each community would save 30-40 percent of dispatch costs annually.

Currently, Birmingham spends $600,000 on dispatch every year, while Beverly Hills spends $400,000. If consolidated, dispatch services would be consolidated entirely in Birmingham with its nine full- and part-time employees.

In a presentation to the City Commission on Monday, Mark Clemence said both cities could operate efficiently with only one dispatch center, noting "more than 90 percent of total dispatch costs are tied up in people."

"We're very comfortable that our communication staff can handle the additional work," he said.

In 2011, Birmingham had around 8,300 911 calls. In Beverly Hills, there were 2,300. The current Birmingham dispatch center — which is looking to add a third work station, Clemence said — can handle up to four 911 calls at one time (Clemence said there are usually two dispatchers working at any given time). Any more calls than that are transferred to Bloomfield Township Police.

The only challenge Birmingham dispatchers may face going foward, Clemence said, is that because Beverly Hills has a cross-trained Department of Public Safety — with police and fire services — Birmingham dispatchers would need to learn how to dispatch fire calls.

"However, we do not anticipate any insurmountable problems serving all three departments," he said.

City Manager Bob Bruner said Birmingham is awaiting a response to a proposal to Beverly Hills, which had its own Village Council meeting Tuesday night.